Automobile Tire Print 1953

I wonder about Rauschenberg’s ‘Automobile Tire Print’ at SFMOMA, it's like a performance turned painting, a collaboration between man and machine, ink and rubber, resulting in this long scroll of black markings. I imagine Rauschenberg thinking, "What if we let the car do the work?" The tire becomes the brush, leaving its trace—a dark, smudged line that stretches across the paper's surface. It's like a dance between control and chance, where the artist guides the car, but the road dictates the outcome. The texture of the tire, the weight of the vehicle, and the surface it travels on all leave their mark. This work reminds me of other rule-based art, like Sol LeWitt's wall drawings, where a set of instructions leads to an unpredictable outcome. It's a way of relinquishing control and embracing the unexpected. Rauschenberg invites us to see the world differently, to find beauty in the mundane and to consider the poetry of everyday gestures.